Where I belong
by Arebella
Summary: What if Harry didn't meet Draco at Madam Malcolm and on the train? Or Ron also? What house would he have gone in? Who would he befriend? Will he become Dark or Light? Will he be the same at all?
1. Chapter 1

**Where I Belong:**

Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house_. _Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing — noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

_**"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

_**But don't judge on what you see,**_

_**I'll eat myself if you can find**_

_**A smarter hat than me.**_

_**You can keep your bowlers black,**_

_**Your top hats sleek and tall,**_

_**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**_

_**And I can cap them all.**_

_**There's nothing hidden in your head**_

_**The Sorting Hat can't see,**_

_**So try me on and I will tell you**_

_**Where you ought to be.**_

_**You might belong in Gryffindor,**_

_**Where dwell the brave at heart,**_

_**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry**_

_**Set Gryffindor's apart;**_

_**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**_

_**Where they are just and loyal,**_

_**Those patient Hufflepuffs are true**_

_**And unafraid of toil;**_

_**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**_

_**if you've a ready mind,**_

_**Where those of wit and learning,**_

_**Will always find their kind;**_

_**Or perhaps in Slytherin**_

_**You'll make your real friends,**_

_**Those cunning folk use any means**_

_**To achieve their ends.**_

_**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**_

_**And don't get in a flap!**_

_**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**_

_**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**_

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause —

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnegan, Seamus,"

The sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!" Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. The red head near me groaned. When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville.

When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Draco Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

"Potter, Harry", said Professor McGonagall. I walked up the steps to the stool. I could feel the weight of hundreds of eyes on my back. Their voices like buzzing in my ears. The last thing I saw before the hat slipped over my eyes was everyone craning their heads to get a look at me. "Difficult very Difficult. A lot of courage I see not a bad mind either. And Oh yes a thirst to prove yourself. I've seen a mind like this before. Oh yes over 50 years ago. His name, lad, was Tom Riddle. Ah now back to the topic now where should I put you?" " I get to choose"? I asked the hat. "Of course". Replied the hat. "I want to be where I'll do great" I whispered quietly to the hat. "Ah that, young man, is what Tom Riddle told me also. You same as him would do great in Slytherin. It's all in your head here. And Slytherin will help you achieve greatness. No doubt about that yes,? Well if your sure better be SLYTHERIN!" the hat announced to the hall. The Slytherin table erupted into cheers, while the rest of the hall was whispering to the person next to them in shocked disbelief. I got off the stool with my head held high. I sat in the spot next to a boy I saw pass on the train with pale blond hair. I tuned out the rest of the sorting. Starting when the boy next to me offered me his hand. "I'm Draco and welcome to Slytherin". He told me. I shook his hand and replied, "I'm Harry nice to meet you and thank you."

**End Ch.1**


	2. Chapter 2

**READ!**

**I am doing a re-write so look on profile for it.**

**Thank you,**

**Arebella**


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